Cloud standards debate should focus on the operational

The focus should shift from technical cloud standards towards more practical measures around
accountability and capability over the next few years as operational benchmarks become more
relevant for customers.

The theory that technical standards will give way to more operational
concerns is the view of the Cloud Industry Forum's independent certification partner APM Group and
comes at a time when the head of the World Wide Web Consortium Dr Jeff Jaffe is calling for tighter
control over cloud computing to avoid the "confused patchwork of design" that is currently the
state of the market.

But Richard Pharro, CEO of APM Group, said that in the long-term the focus would move away from
technical standards, which were already quickly losing relevance for customers.

“While technical standards are important, particularly in areas such as APIs that aide
interoperability, they do not have the significance in cloud deployments that they have in
on-premise installations," he said.

"Indeed, as the market reaches maturity, and market forces drive convergence, technical
standards will become increasingly irrelevant in the cloud setting. Technical standards relating to
the cloud will be unlikely to able to keep up with the rate at which it matures, if and when the
industry arrives at a single set of standards, they are likely to be redundant," he added.

The advice from Pharro was to for resellers to concentrate on operational type certifications
because in the long-run they would be of most value to customers.

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